News

Made in NYC Celebrates Pride: Automic Gold

Wednesday, June 12 2019 11:51 am

Radically Wearable Fine Jewelry For Everyone

For Automic Gold, the brand will always be more than what meets the eye. “Automic” is comprised of three words: Aurum, Atom and Autonomy. The first is the Latin word for gold and the source of its chemical symbol, “Au”. Atom as the one constant unit for all ordinary matter, and lastly – autonomy – the ultimate capacity to decide for oneself and pursue a course of action in one’s life. For the founders of Automic Gold, building a jewelry brand for all genders and for all sizes. To be truly inclusive, one must create a conscious business built on transparency and honesty.

“Jewelry should be available for anyone regardless of who you are, what size you are, and what age you are. We all come in different forms and we all should feel good about ourselves. This is why our jewelry is for all genders and is size-inclusive…,”says Al Sandimirova, Founder of Automic Gold

Founded in 2017, Atomic Gold began in New York City by wives Al and Kiera. Al is a metalsmith, an immigrant from Tatarstan (a federal republic of Russia), and the designer behind Automic Gold’s collections. Al is genderqueer, their pronouns are: they/them. Kiera is an engineer and multidisciplinary artist behind the operations; she is a trans woman. They are proud to bring their vision of jewelry, sustainability and inclusiveness to all genders and sizes, effectively breaking barriers in the fine jewelry industry.

How are they doing it?

Automic Gold is the only fine jewelry brand worldwide (yes, only) to offer size-inclusive choices for all rings, bracelets, anklets and chokers. Industry standard for ring size is 5-9, a few fine jewelry brands began to make bigger rings for some of their jewelry following Automic Gold’s example, but they are still the only brand to carry rings 2-16 in size. They also hire size-inclusive, non-cisgender and non-white models for their campaigns and marketing without the use of Photoshop – all year round, not just for awareness months. The company is self-funded and never accepts money from investors, eliminating the risk of compromising their mission for their bottom line. This choice does not come without its own set of challenges, often they have to sell out of current collections before earning enough funds to create a new line. However, having autonomy over the process is well worth the risk, and they do not stop there.

In terms of sustainability, Automic Gold fine jewelry is made from 100% reclaimed gold and is certified by SCS. Because of the rare nature of gold, a lot of mining is required to source new material, therefore making reclaimed gold the medium of choice for the fine jeweler. According to the Smithsonian, “ to produce enough raw gold to make a single ring, 20 tons of rock and soil are dislodged and discarded. Much of this waste carries with it mercury and cyanide, which are used to extract the gold from the rock… air quality is also compromised by gold mining, which releases hundreds of tons of airborne elemental mercury every year.” When you buy Automic Gold, you support sustainable, eco-friendly and ethical manufacturing practices in New York City. Their fine jewelry is created from solid gold only, because longevity is always the best sustainable practice.

In honor of Pride Month 2019, Automic Gold is celebrating by hosting their own events. The first is on Thursday, June 13th at the Ad Hoc Cafe in partnership with queeret, to provide space for LGBTQ+ people to connect and make friends in an alcohol-free, quiet environment. Donations to Immigration Equality will be accepted.